The Collected Letters, Volume 25

Dear Duffy,—The enclosed Note—otherwise a model in its way, brings me in mind of poor old Ireland; and of this time twelvemonth on the street of Stranorlar where I saw you
last. Take the Note, therefore; and a transient sincere blessing from me along with it. Look at “p. 17,” however, if you chance to have it within reach; and then let us lift up both our hands, and bless the anonymous
Coleraine friend.1

These Pamphlets are now out of my hands; thank God. The last of them is waiting for August in the Printer's or Publisher's hands; and that ugly piece of work, like some others, has been got into the rear. Such a
universal howl of astonishment, indignation, and condemnation seldom rose around a poor man before. Voice of the “universal
dogkennel”: “Whaf-thaf! Bow-wow!”—no human response hitherto, or hardly any;*—but that also will come so far as needful, I have no doubt.

My poor liver is gone almost to destruction with all this, and with the summer heats and other fell etceteras. I seldom in my life felt more entirely worn down; I am now straight for the country,—Glamorganshire (S. Wales) most likely,
there to lie perfectly silent for some three weeks; and after that, Scotland &c &c perhaps for a good long while.

Your “Tenant Agitation” looms out very big on me; and I must say it wears a more business-like aspect than any of the previous
“agitations”:—and, I could fancy, may give work to all the “authorities” (on your side of the water and ours) for a generation or two to come!2 Yes, that is the heart of the matter: and a terrific universe of “work” lies there before we get to a solution of it! Cosa fatta ha capo [This kind of thing has an end]; to end, one must begin; that is true too. SUAVITER IN MODO,3 then; and good be with you! Yours ever truly

T. Carlyle

*Thank your Nation critic, however: the news of such insight on his part was really welcome4

1. In “Downing Street” TC had sarcastically suggested that the work of Parliament, whose chief function currently seemed to be
the selection of some insignificant person to be prime minister, might be better transferred to the Times, “which needs no beer-barrels or hustings, and is cheaper in expense of money and of falsity a thousand and a million fold” (Works 20:100). An anonymous correspondent wrote to TC, 21 July, from Coleraine, co. Londonderry: “You mention an admirable project in p 17 of your ‘Downing Street.’ But why should not
something be done as well as said? … Why not do something yourself? Say you start a paper at the beginning of next session;
you write a leading article now and then, to explain the pros and cons of certain questions before the House, to explain the nature of the difficulties which it is necessary to meet, and to give
statistics when necessary, and let the rest of the paper be open to any M.P., in the way you propose. If your objection to
this be of a pecuniary nature, I, for one, would readily subscribe £10 a year until there are sufficient funds to carry it
on.”

2. When Duffy restarted the Nation, he replaced the cause of repeal with tenant rights, involving fair rents and security of tenure; it gathered widespread
popular support early in the year, and by Aug. tenant rights activists, north and south, joined in a Tenant League, which was to lead to a parliamentary campaign.

4. Untraced, but the Nation, 25 May, quoted from “The New Downing Street” (Works 20:131–32) and said that the need to trust and promote “honest men is exquisitely illustrated in the ‘Latter-Day Pamphlets.’”